MWANA Africa Plc’s Zimbabwe operation Freda Rebecca gold mine’s quarterly production for the period ending June was up 18% to 14 716 ounces (oz) compared to the previous quarter buoyed by improved mill throughput, the company has announced.
Report by Business Reporter
Freda Rebecca, according to the group’s quarterly report, progress has been made on the construction of the pilot plant facility for the evaluation of tailings retreatment at Freda Rebecca in a bid to boost output.
The company said construction was nearing completion and commissioning was expected during the next quarter. The pilot plant would be used to verify the viability of retreating the mine’s historical tailings.
“It has been a quarter of mixed fortunes for Mwana. Freda Rebecca continues to perform well, remains cash generative, and I am delighted by the progress made since the leach tank incident earlier in the year.
“Construction of the tailings pilot plant to test the viability of treating Freda Rebecca’s tailings dumps has also progressed well and commissioning of the pilot plant will commence shortly,” Mwana Africa chief executive officer Kalaa Mpinga said.
In the period under review, the average gold price received was at $1 378.
Mpinga said during the quarter, significant progress had been made on the construction of the pilot plant facility for the evaluation of tailings retreatment at Freda Rebecca and construction was nearing completion that the commissioning was expected during the next quarter.
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Turning to the group’s plans to restart its mining operation in Bindura, Mpinga said: “An exceptional amount of effort has gone into the Trojan restart over the course of the past year and much progress has been made culminating in the sale of the first concentrate in April.
“However, due to a sustained decline in commodity prices, most crucially for Mwana, in the prices of gold and nickel, we have embarked on a significant cost-cutting exercise at corporate and project levels.”
Mwana Africa Plc is a pan-African, multi-commodity mining and development company. Mwana’s principal operations and exploration activities cover gold, nickel, copper and diamonds in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. Mwana’s Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe, having restarted operations in 2009, produced 65 350oz of gold in the 12 months to March 2013.
